The "Greatest" Ever And Other Common Exaggerations...
Photo by Tapan Kumar Choudhury on Unsplash
When I was growing up, I loved reading British football magazines such as Shoot!
And one of the topics I’d love reading in them were articles about the “greatest goal” or the “greatest player”, etc.
In fact, I remember a piece somewhere about “The Greatest Save In The History Of Football” - specifically, England Goalkeeper Gordon Banks’ save from a Pele header when England played Brazil in a 1970 World Cup Finals game. It was a sure goal until, miraculously, Banks pulled off the greatest save known to man.
It was, without question, an amazing save, one that most goalkeepers probably wouldn’t have made. And because of that, the article stated, and I believed, that Banks must indeed be the greatest goalkeeper of all time.
It’s the same sort of thing when it comes to the greatest football player of all time. Is it Pele, Maradona, Messi or Ronaldo? Depends on who you ask, and rest assured there are entrenched, fervent camps for each one of those players.
The reality, of course, is that, for the most part, there’s no such thing.
There are too many measures of “great” within any given field. There are different roles to be played, and each one contributes to success.
All of them matter. Is the goal scorer more important than the player who provides the assist? Is the goalkeeper who makes the save more critical than the defender who prevents the shot in the first place?
It just doesn’t matter. Because there’s never only ‘one’ great player. One person is never responsible for an entire team’s success. There are many variables that conspire to create a specific successful situation - not least of which is the fact that success is never achieved alone. And so, absolute judgements aren’t possible, nor are they relevant.
Perhaps we need a different definition of greatness. One that’s not about whether it’s Pele or Maradona or Messi or Ronaldo. Because it can be all of them in different ways, based on those factors that matter the most to us.
(By the way, in case you’re wondering, the answer is Pele, without question. The Greatest Ever.)
